Presentation of the Museum

The Naval Museum of Honfleur is housed in the former St. Etienne church, built on the Old Basin. Among the collections exhibited in the Museum, a painting of vexillological interest is described below.

Ivan Sache, 26 October 2003

Regimental flags in the battle of Louisbourg
(1758)

A big painting, displayed near the entrance of the Museum,
shows the seizure of Louisbourg (Cape Breton,
Canada) by the Brits in 1758. The painting was
made in a fairly naive style, but its unknown author was most
probably an eyewitness of the battle.
The British forces on land fly the Union Jack, whereas the warships fly the White Ensign. A tower, probably a command post, flies the Blue Ensign. The French forces on land and at sea fly the
plain white flag.

On land, each group of French troops flies a flag, either the plain white flag or a blue and white flag as follows:
- forked, horizontally divided white-blue (shown two times on the
painting);
- rectangular, horizontally divided blue-white-blue;
- rectangular, divided per saltire, blue-white-blue-white;
- chequy white and blue.